<p>Did you compare the curriculum? Do you know if the faculty and administration at American U. has contacts with professionals in NYC or do they tend to have contacts solely with pros in DC? Do you eventually want to be in NYC or not necessarily?
Does anyone know if it matters with which city the contacts are established? It's both nice and hard to have choices!</p>
<p>Congratulations! Montclair State is in a great town, and it's only 12 miles from Manhattan! Plus, there's a direct train line from campus into Penn Station. For theatre opportunities, it doesn't get better than that. You will be able to attend Broadway, off, and off-off shows, and did you know that the town of Montclair has one professional and two community theatres as well? </p>
<p>In terms of access to the greatest theatre in the world, MSU has it over American hands down. In terms of the actual program, I can't speak to that. Whichever you decide, best of luck.</p>
<p>Hey carniverous, we looked at American as well. Great program, nice people, very dedicated faculty. AU is a BA program, whereas Montclair is a BFA. In practical terms what that means is that less of your total credits at AU will be for performing arts than they would be at Montclair. At AU, figure on roughly 1/2 your credits being in performing arts, vs. about 2/3 or 3/4 at Montclair. Good luck with your decision!</p>
<p>Carnivorous - What did you decide? Hope all is well with you.</p>
<p>Songanddance...check out the Final Decisions thread. She announced her decision there! :cool:</p>
<p>A question.....When my D visited, the campus seemed huge. As it comes time for housing selection, does anyone have suggestions about the best place for MT students to live (as upperclasspersons, not freshmen ....)? Thanks!!!......</p>
<p>I think my daughter will apply to Russ(?) or Freeman - more of the theater students stay in one of those two, although a higher percentage, as I understand , is majoring in other fields. Freeman also has a cafeteria. These are near the admissions office. Let us know what you decided!</p>
<p>Oh, sorry - as upperclassmen don't they have those nice suites near the train station?</p>
<p>The University seems to be more nurturing than some in the area of dance but I didn't see tap in the curriculum pages I looked at. Do they have it?</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>Vicki</p>
<p>Yes Tap is built into the curriculum for both BFA Dance Majors as well as BFA Musical Theatre Majors. Minors in Musical Theatre get dance but I'm not sure about exactly what types are available to them, besides, of coarse ballet.</p>
<p>One of my guyfriends who is seriously one of the most talented teenage boys EVER....NO JOKE...is going to Montclair for Musical Theater next year. He is absolutely fabulous and very cool!</p>
<p>Bumping for Sarahlsmom</p>
<p>Any current students out there? How is the program? and, how is campus life?</p>
<p>just joined this forum from a google search.</p>
<p>Campus life is absolutely terrible. everyone goes home from thursday nights. the food is horrible and pray to whoever you believe in, that you don't get into Freeman Hall. It's where most theatre majors stay but this building is like 400 years old. they have no heat or air.</p>
<p>the education here is absolutely worthless except maybe the dance program or theatre in general. I'm a finance major and the highest company that comes is probably prudential which recruits for sales positions. I would advise anyone to resist this dying education. the only way this school can get better is only if its turned to a private institution where the school becomes more stricter in enrollment rather than taking in guys with below 3.0's in high school.</p>
<p>Also, don't make a mistake and send your kid here without a car. You would make your kid absolutely hate you.</p>
<p>Wow, pologuyn1, sorry you have had such a bad experience. </p>
<p>To counter a bit, my d was in a show last summer with someone who graduated (last May) from Monclair State as a dancer. She had wonderful things to say about the program and was very excited about the Musical Theater/dance major being launched. Her perception was that weekends were an opportunity to go into the City and take classes, etc.</p>
<p>although i've had a bad experience. I believe driven students would always excel no matter the situation. I've landed my dream job at a big investment bank on wall street where no one there had a clue about my school which i didn't care about.</p>
<p>the close proximity to the city that everyone hypes about. the trains or buses don't go to the city over the weekend so if you don't have a car your screwed. I agree with the fact that their arts program is strong but if your going to college, you are absolutely trying to grow in every aspect of life including a personal level. If you only grow in the field your majoring in, thats not what i consider education.</p>
<p>My best friend went there for undergraduate studies, Latin and Classics. She was a commuter, but she really enjoyed the school. She said the people there were very nice and it was a more comfortable, lax enviroment. She went to graduate school for Cinema Studies at NYU-Tisch and she felt the complete opposite in many ways about the school and the students. </p>
<p>I have my audition for Montclair this Saturday and I'm pretty anxious for it. I have to say I'm not looking forward to the dance audition (I hate dance auditions) and the music theory placement test.</p>
<p>Anyone hear from Montclair? When will we receive decisions?</p>
<p>I am a recent graduate of Montclair and knew quite a few people in the Theater/Dance department. I don't know enough to speak of this major, however, I spent 4 years on campus and have watched its sad progression.</p>
<p>Montclair State used to be a great commuter school with easy accessibility. That all changed when Susan Cole was fired from Rutgers. She was then hired at Montclair State and has been trying to "one up" Rutgers ever since. There is a lot of expansion going on at the cost of current students and the current experience as a whole.</p>
<p>Most theater majors are housed in Freeman Hall. My girlfriend was in Freeman for 2 years. Both years she had no heat and even though she had made dozens of complaints nothing was ever done. The building still has no heat. The rooms can get to 40 degrees during the winter. The university doesn't seem to have any plans to fix this problem. There is also no hot water. The hot water comes in spurts. You may get 30seconds to 1 minute of hot water throughout a 15 minute shower... if you get up early enough.</p>
<p>Then there's the parking issue. Freeman Hall shares a parking lot of about 40 spaces with Russ Hall. Hundreds of students fight over said parking spots. Everyone else gets the luxury of parking the next town over at the train station.</p>
<p>The the biggest problem though that will plague out of state or non-local students... all freshman are guaranteed on-campus housing. And each year they take more students than they can accomodate. What does that mean? It means your first year you're essentially guaranteed a room with no heat, hot water and dining services provided by Sodexho (They star in Supersize Me as being unhealthy. They also have the contract for all Federal prisons. It is prison quality food). Once your freshman year is up you are not guaranteed housing. I had a friend from CT who was in the theater program. She had on campus housing and then all of a sudden next year she couldn't get placed into a room and had to take a year off of school. They have been renting rooms the next town over at a Hotel. A shuttle bus comes once in the morning and once in the evening 8am and 8pm I believe to escort students back and forth. That's it. If you miss your bus you're SOL and stranded. However, the costs are starting to be too great so they are cutting back on the hotel and also threatening to stop the arrangement. This means more and more non-freshman students will be told they can no longer have residency to make room for new incoming students.</p>
<p>The entire school is focused around profit revenue. As it should be, right? Of course I have no problem with a school being capitalistic and making revenue to offset its costs. However, Montclair goes to extreme and absurd lengths and then wastes the money. The catch is to bring in as many unsuspecting freshman into an academic program with lots of promises and false screens, and then all of a sudden you find yourself enrolled in a school that has very few facilities and is extremely unfriendly to the students.</p>
<p>Computer labs are a thing of the past at Montclair. They've essentially closed them all done save for one at the top of the new University Hall. If you don't have a computer the wait can be upwards of an hour or more to get a computer. If you need to research online, forget about it. I have screenshots I can post that shows the MSU internet connection is slower than a 33.6kps dial-up. When I've called IT to complain (over and over and over again) I'm simply told there's too much demand on the servers. As with all schools parking is horrendous and is getting worse. If you're going to commute make sure to get to campus at least 45 minutes to an hour early or you will not make it to class.</p>
<p>There is little to no student activities on campus. The Sororities and Fraternities are laughable at best compared to other universities. But, I guess if that's your thing feel free to join up. Montclair is not a party school, and the campus is typically quiet with no student activities. The student center has no activities for students, just some chairs and a couple places to eat. The campus itself is bland and is being expanded too fast for the increased enrollment. It can't properly hold the number of students it accepts. But fear not, Susan Cole has built herself a luxurious 4k square foot private suite at the top of University Hall, so she can sit up on her throne in comfort while the rest of the school suffers.</p>
<p>rglick, </p>
<p>One of my girlfriend's majors was Latin/Classics. There is a great department. It's a small program so everyone knows each other.</p>
<p>The theater department is very good, but the instructors are hit and miss. Make sure you enter Montclair mentally fit. Eating disorders ensue due to many of the bad instructors. But for every bad instructor there is an equally good one. Take everything with a grain of salt and try to have a good outlook.</p>